Sliding door assembly



oct. 14, 1952 A. R,l Mmmm;y 2,613,844

SLIDING DOOR ASSEMBLY Filed neo. .18,

Fgz. /4 y i Inventor'. Alfred R. MOLD/1GB,

l-i i s Attorney.

Patented Oct. 14, 1952 Alfred It. Mounce, Fort WayneQInd., assignor to y General Electric Company, a ycorporation of New York,l

Application neeinber 1s, 194s, serial No. 66,032 1 claim. (c1. zzo-41) My invention-relates vto doors of thev sliding y type and particularly to such doors mounted -for movement in a horizontal plane.

Sli-ding doors are frequently employed on display cabinets and similar devices to provide ready access to the interior. When such doors are mounted for movement ina horizontal `plane suitable guides are provided to support the door and afford sliding movement. The doors may be provided with rollers to facilitate their move- .is an object of my invention to provide a sliding door assembly for open top cabinets and the like and including an improved arrangement for preventing jamming of the door during its operation.

It is another object of my invention to provide a sliding door for open top cabinets and the like which is mounted to slide in the direction of its smaller dimension and including an improved arrangement for facilitating the sliding movement and preventing jamming.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, andthe features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claim annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my inventionl reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a refrigerated display cabinet'provided with a door embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the cabinet shown in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a sectional end elevation of the door assembly shown in Fig` 2; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

The cabinet illustrated in Fig. 1 comprises a -generally rectangular metal case I0 having a sloping glass display window I I in the front portion thereof and a sliding glass panel door I2 mounted in the top of the cabinet. The door I2 may be slid toward the rear of the cabinet by pushing a handle I3 toward the rear of the cabinet so that the door slides under a rear portion I4 of the top of the cabinet. The door I2 is of rectangular form and of greater width than depth. When a door of this type is moved it may have a tendency to rotate about a vertical axis and such rotation tends to cause jamming in the guides at the ends of the door. In order to prevent jamming in this manner I have provided a mounting assembly which is more clearly illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.

, As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the door I2'comy prises a ,rectangular framep|5 provided' with four guide engaging elements which have been illustrated as rollers I6 near the four'corners ofthe door; these rollers are arranged to roll on parallel guides I1, one on each side of the door. The top vof the cabinet is provided with an opening dened by a suitable frame I8 above the door I2 and forward of the portion Il, and the guides I1 support the door I2 immediately below the opening so that it closes the opening but is arranged to slide under the portion I4 as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3. In order to seal the refrigerated space a suitable gasket I9 is provided along the front edge of the opening, and the rear edge of the opening is sealed by a gasket 20 mounted along the rear edge of the door and eX- tending upwardly to the lower side of the portion I4 of the cabinet. The sides of the door are sealed by strip gaskets 2l, the cross sectional form of which is clearly shown in Fig. 4, these gaskets being secured to the side walls of the opening by screws 22 passing through the frame I8 and clamping the frame and the guides Il securely to a ange 23 formed on the wall of the cabinet I0.

As clearly shown in Fig. 4, the guides I1 are of curved cross section, the rollers I6 normally resting on the lower portion of the curve. It will thus be clear that the two guides provide curves both sloping downwardly toward and under the rollers I6. Thus any lateral movement of the rollers requires that a set of rollers on one side climb up a curved surface. The door is thus biased by gravity to its horizontal position. Furthermore, twisting movement of the door about a vertical axis requires that two of the rollers or elements at opposite sides ride up on the curved surfaces. Thus the gravitational forces tend to prevent the upward movement and consequently tend to prevent the rotation of the door about a vertical axis. Because rotation of the door is resisted by the action of the rollers and the guides, any tendency of the door to jam by twisting is effectively prevented. In this eonnection it should be noted that because of the increased upward steepness of the slope of the guides, the resistance to twisting increases as the degree of twisting increases. Thus, there is no abrupt stopping of the twisting movement with possible jamming as would be the case with a positive stop. Obviously, the operation of the supporting arrangement to prevent this twisting and jamming is applicable whether the supporting elements are in the form of rollers I6 or are some other form of supports, such as frictional slide elements. The construction of the curved guides also facilitates the use of sufient space between the door and the guides alongzthe Y edges sov that the gaskets 2| may beof readily exible material and can maintain a seal With-g out interfering with the operation of the door.

Doors constructed in accordance with myvinf v vention are particularly suitable for applications wherein elongated narrow openings are desirable and in which it is desired, furthermore, to provide an uninterrupted glass area. The arrangement whereby the door may be moved'in the di-T rection of its shorter axis without jamming makes it possible to provide a Single large door with an4 uninterrupted glass area rather than providing several smaller sections each of which would slid with little tendency toward jamming.v v u While I have illustrated and described aparticular form of 'my invention as applied toa refrigerated display case, otherapplications will readily Vbe apparent to those skilled in the art.'

I do not, therefore, desire my invention to be limited "to the specific embodiments shown and I intend inthe appended claim to cover all modi- 4 for supporting said door in a substantially horizontal plane with the shorter sides of said door adjacent and parallel to said guides, pairs of supporting elements mounted on said door near the corners thereof for engagement with respective ones of said guides to support said door in spaced relationto said guidesgrvslaid guides having cross .sections slopingr outwardlyandjupwardly with increased steepness and "said elements vbeing; arranged normally to move along the lower relatively at portions of said guides whereby forces tending to Vtwist said door about avertical axis 4 are opposed by the movement of two diagonally located ones of said elements upwardly against the increasing yslope of said guides and jamming of said door is prevented, and strip gaskets of readily flexible material secured along said guides and. contacting said door for closing the spaces i between said door and said guides and for aiordcations within the spirit and scope of my invention. I What Iclaim a's new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: 1

A sliding door assembly for open top cabinets and thelike'comprising an elongated rectangular door, a pair of oppositely 'facing parallel guides Number Name v Date @460,501 Coburn et al. Sept.V 29, 1891 1,228,013 Frantz lMay-279, 1917 1,820,459 Y' 1 Johnson Au'g.25, 1931 1,873,485 Rowe v A'ug23; 1932 2,142,469 WillamSll et all Jan. 3;' 1939 2171,194 

